Amie Taylor's blog

I want us to imagine a future for our children that is free of gender restrictions, that will allow them to dream in to becoming whoever they choose to become without limits. And speaking specifically from my own experiences as a woman, I want to see things change for girls. Because equality is better for everyone. (read on)

With 84% of Shakespeare's characters being male, casting a woman (Elle Dillon-Reams) to play all of the parts in this scintillating and fervent retelling, is certainly one way of tackling gender disparity in theatre. Maverick Theatre were originally looking for a male OR a female to play the role - either would have worked - but it was new and mightily refreshing to see a woman on stage delivering the Henry war speeches, with just as much gusto and passion as I've ever seen any male perform them. Also, it kind of didn't make much of a difference, the story is the story, all the same.

Tony Burke promises the world that he ‘isn’t a weird deviant’, and that his Facebook page WWEOT (Women Who Eat on Tubes) is in fact ‘art’.

Just in case you have missed this extraordinary phenomenon, Burke has created a Facebook group which encourages members of the public to photograph unsuspecting women on the tube as they eat and then upload their photos to the Facebook group where they are subjected to comment, ridicule and analysis. What alarms me more is the number of members this group has, and the number of people defending it.

I now think twice before eating on the tube, carefully scouting the carriage to see if anyone looks ‘the sort’ to want to take a photo of me eating my lunch (I try never to stereotype people). I don’t much want to be snapped and discussed on a website. Actually, the thought of it makes me feel extraordinarily uncomfortable. So, I’ve had a freedom taken away from me; my right to eat on the tube, without concern for invasion of my privacy.

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Abigail Tarttelin is a Hackney-based author. Her third novel Dead Girls will be published by Mantle on 3 May. It follows the award-winning Golden Boy, which told the story of an intersex teenager called Max. Comedian, author and broadcaster Rosie Wilby spoke to her.

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